WOAW-UAW rejects mediation—chooses to strike

Author  Wellesley College
Published on 

To: Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson; Courtney Coile, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College; and Carolyn Slaboden, Chief Human Resources Officer
Re: WOAW-UAW REJECTS MEDIATION—CHOOSES TO STRIKE
Date: March 26, 2025


Yesterday at a weekly bargaining session—our 24th—with WOAW-UAW, the College came to the negotiating table with major new proposals that represented significant movement on all of the most consequential issues in dispute between the College and the WOAW. This was a good-faith effort on the College’s part to move these negotiations to closure.

In response, the union not only outright rejected the packages without comment, it put a 95-page document on the table that represented, in their words, the bargaining unit’s “priorities,” which, with some exceptions, reiterated many of the basic positions they have maintained during the many months of bargaining. The College’s team was very disappointed by the union’s response and frustrated that it rejected our meaningful package offers without suggesting alternatives that could narrow, rather than expand, our differences.

Earlier today, the College offered to move to mediation, a tried-and-true method for successfully resolving differences and finalizing a contract. WOAW-UAW rejected this offer. Instead, the union continues its plans to begin a strike tomorrow.

Congress created the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help parties reach agreement and avoid strikes and labor strife where possible. Trained federal mediators, who serve as an experienced neutral party, have helped Harvard, Tufts, and other institutions in our area reach agreements with their unions, including many UAW bargaining units. We see no reason not to use their expertise to help us reach an agreement with our disputes.

The College’s highest priority is our students, and we are committed to preserving the continuity of our academic program. We want to assure you that we are making every effort to ensure campus operations continue as usual.

Below is important guidance for members of our community.

  • Students are expected to attend classes as they normally would, unless notified otherwise.
  • If a class is impacted by a strike, students will be notified directly.
  • Members of WOAW plan to picket at the Route 135 entrance to campus, but the entrance and College Road will be open. All faculty, staff, students, visitors, and vendors who are entering campus by vehicle should use this Route 135 entrance. The Route 16 entrance to campus is reserved for the use of our construction contractors.
  • Students, faculty, and staff have the right to walk freely on campus and enter College buildings without being hindered in any way.

Please watch for follow-up messages later today with relevant details specific to students, non-tenure track (NTT) faculty, tenure track faculty, and administrative staff.

We want to make sure the community understands the new proposals the College made yesterday that the union has rejected:

  • The College made a new package proposal on Titles, Appointments, Reappointments, Promotions, and Evaluations that offered the union the professorial titles they have been demanding; a just-cause standard for grievances of non-reappointment of long-term NTT faculty; agreement with the union’s demand for fewer years for promotion eligibility; and, generally, an acceptance of their Evaluation article, among other proposed concessions. This was offered as a package in exchange for certain provisions in the Appointments and Reappointments that favored the College’s operational needs. The union rejected this package out of hand.
  • The College put a meaningful new package proposal on the table regarding Compensation and Workload that included unprecedented increases in compensation in exchange for union agreement on a five-course annual teaching load for all full-time unit members that represents close to a 30% increase in compensation for bargaining unit employees (BUEs) over the next four years. Details on the College’s new Workload and Compensation proposal can be found here. The union rejected this package as well.
  • The College also moved toward the union’s proposal on Discrimination and Harassment, adding for the first time stand-alone protections from bullying even when not linked to a protected category. The union offered a modified proposal on this article at the end of the day, which the College is reviewing.

The union continues to insist on a compensation package that offers an average increase of 54% in the first year of the contract, average per-person raises of $54,000 for those with 10 to 20 years of experience, and average per-person raises of $64,000 for those with more than 20 years of experience. The impact of this proposal would be for the salaries of the NTT faculty to substantially exceed those of many tenure-track faculty—for example, NTT faculty with 18 years of experience would earn 25% more than similarly-experienced full professors. This is an unreasonable proposal that they have not supported with any credible market data.

First contracts take on average more than a year to negotiate. The College has been working hard over the past 10 months in good faith to try to negotiate a fair agreement with the union that also takes into consideration the needs of our entire community. The union’s refusal to go to mediation and to instead call for a strike is arbitrary and premature.

Thank you to all members of Wellesley for your continued dedication to our community and mission. We will continue to provide updates and answer questions related to union negotiations on our dedicated website.